Pages

Vision

To help transition Japan to a peace promoting post-carbon country while enjoying every step of the process.僕のビジョンは、祖国日本で、平和文化を育みポストカーボン（Post-Carbon) 社会を促進してゆく事です。化石燃料や原子力に頼らず、他国の資源を取らない、自給自足な国へのトランジションを実現させてゆきたいです。

In Japan it is rare to find "organic" fruits. I buy most of my food at a local natural food store,

but almost all the fruits have been sprayed and probably are grown with some chemical fertilisers. The main difference with fruit sold at a natural food store is that they have been sprayed fewer times. The label on the hakutou peach says 50% less and the kyohou grapes says 70% less. That's great!

But, that actually tells me very little about these fruits. Instinctively, I feel good about buying these over the conventional fruits. Like buying "organic" or "fair trade" or "now 20% more!" But what do these marketing terms really mean?

And how do I consciously and unconsciously respond to them?

For instance, the label on the fruit indicates 50% less spraying.

50% less than what?

How many times were the fruits sprayed?

What was sprayed on them?

When were they sprayed?

How does the spraying affect the farmer, the environment, and the person who eats it?

I did end up in a conversation with the storekeeper about this, and she was in agreement about the superficiality of that label (eg 50% less). It's a dilemma for them, as its must less attractive to buy fruit that's labeled "sprayed 6 times with chemicals" than "50% less spraying." In fact, most people probably don't want to know about the spraying, sticking to conventional fruits that have no information about the pesticides used (and are more available, but not necessarily cheaper).

大好物の白桃と巨峰！

食材はなるべく自然食品店で買っています。

自然食品店でなくても、

日本の果物は高い！

不思議な事に日本の自然食品店では有機野菜が揃っていても、

有機果物を見る事がほとんどありません。

僕が知る限り、

有機果物の入手源は木村さんの奇跡の林檎と近所のお庭だけです。

アメリカの西海岸では大体どこででも安く手に入るのに。

その違いは何なのでしょう？

気候？技術？もしくは文化とマーケット？

とても残念な事です。

自然食品店の果物の利点といえば、

農薬の散布量だそうです。

例えば、写真の白桃は農薬５割減で巨峰は７割減と表示されています。

農薬が少ない方がいいと思いますが、

何割減の表示だけでは物足りない気がします。

例えば、何に比べて何割減なのか？

何回どのような農薬を散布しているか？

いつ散布されたのか？

それらはどのように農家、環境、

そして食べる人に影響を及ぼすのか？

これらの答えこそが健康や環境にケアする為の

有力な情報なのではないでしょうか？

店員の人にこのようなお話をした時、 同感していました。

お店側としては難しいとこです。

例えば、【農薬５０％減】と【OO農薬７回散布】の間では

一番目の表示の方が売れるでしょう。

寧ろ何も表示がない方が気分よく消費できるかもしれません。

消費文化のモットーは

【知らぬが仏】

Papaya from Miyazaki prefecture, South West Japan.

Every time I buy fruit in Japan,

I have a moment of mental hesitation.

Because I really don't like buying toxic waste.

"Buy something and get tons of plastic trash free"

seems to be the message.

The unyielding amount of plastic packaging is extremely disturbing.

Whether it be the kyoho grapes in a plastic bag or

worse yet,

the soft papaya nestled in a styrofoam net,

encased in a plastic case,

to be enveloped in a thin plastic bag at the register,

and finally deposited in a larger plastic bag with other plastic packed goods.

Toxic consumer-culture mindlessness at its finest.

I'm a bit bitter about becoming a full-time consumer again.

Here is how I see the absurdity.

Plastic is made from a dwindling resource of fossil fuels. -not good

In Japan, plastic bags will most likely be burned or down-cycled... -not good

Very well written and I feel very similarly to what San Oizumi is saying.

Here are some of his quotes,

"There are 54 nuclear reactors total in Japan. Only 14 are currently in operation. Since the earthquake and tsunami and the meltdown at Fukushima, they [the government or electric companies] have not been able to restart a single one. All the planned reactors that are in the pipeline to be built have been halted."

"That's not going to be so easy to do, the citizen's movement is too powerful."

"By turning down air conditioners and reducing power usage, Japan has had enough power. And that means that we do not need any more nuclear power stations, and that we do not need to restart any of the closed ones. We have enough."

I think the trick about exploring difficult unpleasantries such as radiation,

is how to channel it into engaged proactive positive energy.

I'm still working on that....

Here is a map illustrating how people from different areas perceive the area of radioactive contamination is. I don't think its based on statistical data but its sounds right from my few interactions with people and listening to the news. (Click to enlarge)

When thinking about radiation, its helpful to understand that radiation doesn't immediately kill you or make you sick. How it affects you depends on many factors, like what type of radiation it is, how you were exposed to it, how long you were exposed to it, and your physical condition.

9/11 is coincidently the half-year anniversary of the Fukushima nature-Man collaborative disaster. There are demonstrations planned through Japan and probably in several other cities around the globe. Whether it be terrorist attacks of 9/11, invasions of Afganistan and Iraq, global economic collapse, tax-money bailouts for the wealthiest gamblers (privatised profits socialised losses) including TEPCO, soaring unemployment, "democracies" that do not represent the masses, lamestream 24 hour entertainment "news" (Fox, CNN, etc), booming weapons industry, nuclear meltdown, etc etc. our world is seriously fucked up.

Welcome!

ようこそ！

You have arrived to a bilingual blog about sustainability, permaculture, and peace activism. Yeah! Please leave a comment if you feel inspired.Thanks for visiting and I hope you spread the seeds:) *the ratio of English to Japanese changes unexpectedly so if there is a lot of strange foreign characters, check out older articles might have the more familiar alphabet.

About Me

A "half", as they call us in Japan, who grew up in metropolis and rural Japan, Hawaii, Santa Cruz CA, Central America, and now Orcas Island WA. Taking a stroll through the path of permaculture, mindfulness, and love. Looking for more like-minded people in Japan or people interested in transforming Japan...
百姓／平和活動家／パーマカルチャー・デザイナーのヒヨコです。ブロックス・パーマカルチャー・ホームステッド（ワシントン州のオーカス島）で弟子入り生活をしていましたが、今は東京で平和と愛を育む活動をしています。先生、仲間、プロジェクト、土地を捜しています！